


And the Reason Is...

by Diary



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Bechdel Test Fail, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Lawyer Tyrion Lannister, Love, Male-Female Friendship, Modern Westeros, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 13:11:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7685845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Tenants lawyer Tyrion and prostitute Shae have a not completely clear but nevertheless strong, mostly platonic relationship. Complete.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And the Reason Is...

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Game of Thrones.

Tyrion Lannister was busy reading when he heard a crash followed by Lorathi curses.

Walking over to the flat next to his, he found the door opened and saw his neighbour, Shae, had been pinned to the floor by gold cloaks. An open window explained how her client managed to escape a similar fate. 

Sighing, he put his hands up in a calming motion, walked in, and informed them, “This woman is represented by counsel.”

One of them gave a wary nod.

He walked over, kneeled down, and softly said, “Shae, please, stop struggling.”

She looked up with hard eyes. “If I found out it was you who called-”

“You know I wouldn’t do that,” he said. “Stop struggling. Go with them, and I’ll arrive shortly after you do.” Looking up, he asked, “What exactly are the charges?”

“Solicitation, prostitution, resisting arrest, and aiding and abetting a suspect,” one of them promptly answered.

Thank the gods, he thought in relief. Nothing about immigration or religion. While the faith militant had no legal right to go after people who hadn’t publicly participated in religious ceremonies and/or taken religious vows, they sometimes managed to do so, anyways, and with her less-than-secure immigration status-

Seeing she had stopped struggling and was being stood up, he jumped up and insisted, “Not a word, Shae. I’ll be there shortly.”

Then, taking in her appearance, he looked at one of the cloaks. “Surely, you can get her jacket, at least, and let her slip into a pair of trousers. She’s bound to freeze before she ever sees a courtroom.”

“All of my clothes are in the laundry.”

“I think my brother left a jacket in my place.” He looked back at the cloak.

Sighing, the cloak nodded. “Very well.”

He rushed over to his flat and not only found a one of Jaime’s jackets but a pair of trousers, too. Rummaging through his desk, he found some safety pins.

Back in her flat, she was uncuffed for long enough to slip the jacket and trousers on, but they re-cuffed her and slid the safety pins through the jacket and trousers themselves and stuffed the bottom of the trousers into her shoes.

“No interrogation,” he reminded them.

…

The watchmen centre was just as freezing and rife with the mixed smells of antiseptic and unwashed criminals as it always was.

One of the cloaks snickered when he walked by.

In the interrogation room, he climbed up on the chair, looked over at Shae, and said, “Obviously, I can’t represent you, but I’ll call a friend of mine and explain the situation. Now, tell me, what exactly _is_ the situation?”

“You could represent me,” she argued.

“Shae, I’m a tax estate lawyer.”

She gave him an unimpressed look. “One person tries to kill you years ago, and you stop defending the innocent.”

He stifled a laugh. “I’d never wish attempted murder on you, but I do have to say, unless you’re ever a victim of it, you truly cannot understand how it can change a person. And on a less serious note, of all your wonderful qualities and all the virtues you truly do possess, you are no innocent.”

“True,” she agreed with a shrug. “I met him online, and he the only name he gave me was ‘Otto’. He came over, we started to have sex, and the watch officers knocked on the door, identified themselves, and because I wasn’t fast enough, forced their way in. He went out the window, and I was pinned to the floor. I wasn’t trying to escape, I was trying to move out of sight long enough to slip on my shirt and adjust my smallclothes. They didn’t pay, and I didn’t like them, and so, they shouldn’t have gotten a look.”

Nodding, he tried, “Shae-”

“Don’t start,” she ordered. “Do you know how many septons, septas, and gold cloaks I’ve had in my bed? If I didn’t keep confidentiality, I could tell you an exact number. I’ve had plenty of people who’ve had the best sex they’ll ever have with me who talk about how disgusting and immoral I am during the day. If they didn’t go to people like me, most of them would rape. And people like you used to be usually saved the rapists from gelding.”

“And yet, you suggest that I could defend you."

“You could. But if you won’t, is this friend of yours any good?”

“Yes,” he assured her. “I need to ask you some questions.”

“Ask.”

“How and when did your correspondence with Otto begin?”

“Last month, on Tuesday…”

…

Present

When Tyrion gets home, he pauses when he sees the light is out in his bedroom.

Leaving, he goes back down to the lobby, checks his mailbox, and sees his key isn’t there.

Going back up, he turns on the light and asks, “Shae?”

Her messy curls appear from under the covers, and then, her-

“I couldn’t breathe,” she tells him. “I would have changed into something of yours, but-” Shrugging, she yawns.

“Of course,” he says. “But now that you seem to have gotten your breathing under control, could you please put something on?”

Slipping out of bed, she goes past him. “In another life, you would have been a patron of whores.”

“In another life, it’s likely,” he agrees. “But with the internet, I can get both porn and the ability to connect emotionally with people.”

Scoffing, she pulls her tank top and slips her panties on. “Get comfortable, Lannister lion. We need to talk.” Sitting down on the couch, she adds, “I’ll wait.”

“Must you mock me with that?”

“Must your family take such pride in such a stupid thing? Real lions aren’t like what they compare themselves to.”

“Keywords being ‘they’ and ‘themselves’,” he huffs. “I’m not like my family.”

“You would be, if any of them besides your brother had accepted you,” she replies.

Sighing, he goes to change. When he comes out, he starts to pour two glasses of wine, but she says, “Tea, tonight.”

After the tea’s made, he brings it over and sits. “What’s going on, Shae?”

“I need- Give me your mother’s necklace.”

He stares. “Excuse me? Do what?”

“You heard me,” she quietly says. “You’re never going to married, workaholic who tries to buy the affection of whoever he’s with, always thinking they’re secretly judging you, always secretly judging them. You’re never going to have a daughter. I might be leaving soon. So, give me her necklace.”

“Leaving?”

“Leaving,” she confirms. “I- it’s-”

Reaching over, he touches her hand. “You have no idea what’s going inside of me right now. But worryingly, it’s the same for you. If you’re in trouble, Shae, you know that I’ll help you.”

“You mean you’ll get that little girl you screwed to help me again. What were you thinking, almost marrying her? She deserves so much better.”

“Thank you,” is his dry response. “Tell me again, aside from wanting to bed you but restraining myself, why am I drawn to you?”

“Because, you know that I’ll never lie to you, you know that I like your size, and you know that I am not weak.”

“I know that you’re not weak,” he replies. “Are you in trouble, Shae?”

She shrugs. “Not legally.” Curling her feet under her, she softly tells him, “This place was my dream. Big, busy, noisy, and stinking. But now, I can’t hear myself think, there are so many people I don’t want around me, and earlier, I couldn’t breathe. I might feel safer somewhere smaller.”

“Has something happened?”

“I’ve changed,” she simply answers.

“Where will you go?”

“Maybe I’ll send you a postcard when I get there.”

Sighing, he gets up, grabs his wallet, and goes to the safe in his bedroom. When he comes back, he sets all the money he has with him and some simple family jewels, though their price is anything but simple, on her lap. “I wish you well, Shae.”

“You’re not giving me the necklace."

“No. Whether it will ever happen or not, it belongs to my wife and our first daughter.”

Scoffing, she cups his cheek, leans down, and kisses him. “You can have whatever I leave behind, Lannister lion.” She sets the tea aside, gathers the money and jewels, and leaves.

…

Shae imagines Tyrion would laugh if he knew she was sitting in front of a Weirwood heart tree. She’s Shae the funny, sometimes troublesome whore to him.

When she was a small child, there was a beautiful flower in a shop she’d spend hours kneeling in front of and talking to. When she first came to the seven kingdoms, she found herself occasionally visiting Godswoods, but often, once people realised what her profession was, they had the authorities keep a watch out for her.

She can’t bring herself to talk right now, and closing her eyes, she listens to the quiet sounds surrounding her.

A hand in hers startles her, and she realises she’d dozed off.

Looking down, she sees Tyrion sitting beside her. “How long was I asleep?”

“I don’t know. It’s 8:45.”

About ten minutes, then, she calculates.

“Someone finally succeeding in making me change,” she tells him.

“I once read a quote on some magazine cover I found apt: People never change because they are under threat or under duress. They change because they see something that makes their life seem valuable enough to start moving toward a life worth living.”

Scoffing, she says, “Because, this is who you wanted to be. A workaholic who drinks too much. Whose last relationship was with a 22-year-old kid. A sarcastic, bitter man who, like you said, uses pornography and chatrooms instead of going to someone like me. If you didn’t become this, you never would have survived your family. But I can still see the idealistic boy who wants to be a superhero, sometimes.”

He sighs. “Shae, I care very deeply about you. There. No sarcasm, no bitterness. I care about you, and what I want for you, from you, you might say, is for you to be safe and happy. If I can help you, please, let me.”

Letting out a shuddery breath, she says, “I’m going to tell you that I’m pregnant. And I need you to lie and say that, somehow, a foreign whore with no education or other job prospects can be a good mother.”

He’s quiet for a long moment. “I’ve never lied to you. I won’t start now.” Standing up, he kisses her cheek. “Congratulations, Shae. I hope your baby is just strong, healthy, and beautiful as you are.”

Reaching over, she pushes him away.

“Because, this is who you wanted to be,” he echoes. “A suspicious woman who, despite knowing better, is quick to put herself down before anyone else can. Who has never had a truly mutual relationship based on attraction and respect. If you didn’t become this, I can’t say you’d be here, now, and for me personally, that would be a great loss.”

He moves closer. “If you’ve decided to have and keep this baby, you’re going to be a great mother, Shae. I hope you’ll stay and let me help you. It won’t be easy. We both know that. But you can take classes, I can help you find a more- publicly acceptable job, and I can help you apply for aide.” She scoffs, and he adds, “Just until you can get fully on your feet. For the baby’s sake.”

“You weren’t supposed to be like this.”

“Oh?” He sits back down. “What was I supposed to be like?”

“A quick-” She looks at the heart tree and shakes her head. “Did you come looking for me?”

“I assure you, if we were ever together, it would be anything but quick.”

Giving him a look, she softly laughs. “You’re one of the few men who I know is likely telling the truth in that area.”

“Pod was here, earlier, and he called me,” he tells her. “I thought you’d already be out of town by now.”

“And yet, learning otherwise, you came straight away.”

“I’ll always come if I think you might need a friend.”

Finds his hand with her own, she links their fingers together. “I think I’m having a girl.”

“Good,” is his soft reply.   


End file.
